Whats in a number?

When I was a kid, the number six jumper was always the one I wanted to wear. To me, the five-eighth was the player that made things happen on the footy field. Unfortunately, that position has slowly been bent and twisted from its traditional roots to the point where only a small number of current players still give the six that quality that I remember so fondly.

I'm by no means an old dude, in fact I was too young to remember the last time my beloved Dragons did the lap of honour. But in that time, changes to the rules, the strength of players and interpretations of coaches has seen a real decline in the development of the pivotal role.

Perhaps I was just lucky that during my younger days, we were blessed with amazingly talented five-eighths like Laurie Daley, Brad Fittler, Wally Lewis and Anthony Mundine. Perhaps the current crop of players just haven